SALEM, Ore. (AP) — Gov. John Kitzhaber plans to name his predecessor, Ted Kulongoski, to a commission reviewing Oregon’s criminal-sentencing laws.
The Salem Statesman Journal reports that the commission was part of a package of proposals to revamp state government that Kulongoski made a month before he left office.
The commission will be led by Chief Justice Paul De Muniz and have members from all three branches of government.
The paper said Oregon prisons now hold about 14,000 people, more than double the total before voters approved mandatory minimum sentences in 1995. The budget for corrections is now at 9 percent of discretionary state spending, almost double the share it had in the mid-1980s.
